Final answer:
Yes, human skulls have changed over the last 40,000 years, marked by reduced facial features and increased brain sizes, influenced by environmental factors, diet, and technological advances.
Step-by-step explanation:
There have indeed been changes in human skulls over the last 40,000 years. As Homo sapiens evolved, they developed smaller faces, jaws, and front teeth while their brains grew significantly larger in comparison to earlier Homo species. These evolutionary changes in skull morphology are indicative of various adaptations, such as dietary shifts necessitating less robust chewing apparatus due to higher quality, nutrient-dense food like meat, and an increase in brain size. An important gene, RUNX2, shows differences between modern humans and Neanderthals, affecting the cranial structure and contributing to the unique characteristics of modern human skulls.
Environmental pressures, technological advancements, and dietary requirements have all influenced human evolution over millennia. The ability to use fire and the subsequent changes it brought to social organization and diet also had a profound impact on our evolution, with the development of cooking facilitating more easily digestible, calorically rich diets, thus supporting encephalization. It is through careful research by various scientific disciplines that we have been able to trace these changes in our species' anatomy and behavior throughout prehistory.